MATCH REPORT - miscellaneous reports

20 FEB 2000 --- Against Soon Tat's Team

It was supposed to be the first match in since Hari Raya and it sure did show that it was our first match in a long time. We played against Soon Tat's team again at NTU, hoping to have a repeat of the previous match victory over them. But alas, we lost 5-3 in one of those fogettable matches.

We started the match poorly, everyone were lost on the pitch, we were under constant bombardment from the opposing team, the strikers don't even have the chance to fire blanks as we had difficulties getting the ball out of our own half. The lost feeling was best reflected by midfielder Ryan, who 'mistook' the opponent's penalty area for the centre circle and stayed there instead of the actual centre circle where he was supposed to be.

Ok back to the match. We fell 3-0 behind at the end of a disastrous first half where all three goals were like replays as they were scored almost the same way as each other. We were slow to recover and the opponent just broke away on the counter attack, with their Ghanian import, Mark Yeboah and the VJC guy leading the charge and they made us pay with our slow recovery.

We woke up from the first half nightmare and started the second half the way we should have started the match. There were a few missed chances but we thought all was over when Mark broke away, again on the counter, and slotted the ball past Almeric, who was playing keeper.

But a superb individual goal by Wesley, helped by poor handling from their keeper, gave us a ray of hope. We thought we could pull off a comeback when moments later, Kelvin sneaked in behind the defence, who was busy marking Choung during a cross, to head in a motivating goal. But fate was not going to be so kind to us. Mark broke away from Fairoz during one of their counter attacks, raced down the flank, squared the ball across goal for one of their forwards to score their fifth and to kill off our comeback efforts.

Displaying a never-say-die attitude, we refused to give up and were rewarded for our persistence with a third goal scored by Alvin. But it was all too late as the match ended 5-3. Team captain Kelvin sums up the match, saying,"We may have lost, but I think we played well in the second half, maybe it shows that we are returning to form soon. So we have to play more matches to keep it up."

08 JAN 2000 --- Against Soon Tat's Team

Today's match is the 5th match since we last tasted victory and we are playing against the team we lost to the last time.  All our players were very hyped up before the match, and determined to end the winless streak.

The starting line-up included Andrew, the latest member in our team and he played a starring role in the centre of the park, scoring a fine goal from 30 metres to give aus the lead in the first half.  Although our opponents equalised before halftime, we were eager not to let them come at us in the second half.

In the second half, we soon regain the lead.  On a counter attacking move, Sze Hua passed to Choung who found Ryan running through the midfield into the area.  He was tackled from behind and won penalty.  Paul stepped up and made no mistake from the spot.  The 3rd goal came from Choung.  Wesley crossed the ball from the right and Choung bundled it in.  Though not the nicest of goals, it was a crucial one as it confirmed the victory for us and made attempts of a fight back by the opposition almost impossible.

12 DEC 1999 --- Against Soon Tat's Team

Today we played against Soon Tat's team at NTU. We started off with a 4-5-1 formation and Gary made a debut in the centre of midfield which also included Ryan and myself. On the right was Welfred and the left Sze Hua. Fairoz played in Goal as fasting has taken a toll on his fitness and Clarence was once again imported to play with Kway in the centre of defence. On the left was Yaps and right Bernard. Chuwen playing the role of lone striker. The first half started at a frenetic pace, with most of the play being in the midfield. Our strategy of packing the midfield and counter-attacking was working and we took a lead of 1-0 into halftime. The goal was a spectacular first-time volley by Sze Hua, clearly his best goal so far.

In the second half, Clarence replaced Fairoz in Goal as his back was injured. This was clearly affecting him as we let in 2 early goals. Our players are beginning to tire and very soon there were huge gaps in midfield and defence. The midfield was loosing its battle and 'Edgar Davids' (he is a player from the other team) was taking control. We were also punished by the speed of a Ghanaian in their team. Not before long the score was 5-1. There was still 15 min to go. Though morale was low, we did not give up. We pressed on hard for the ball, and began taking more shots on their goal. Finally our efforts were paid off when Ryan scored a consolation goal in the dying minute.

The final score was 5-2. Though this equaled our worst defeat margin, I must say that we did not let ourselves down by playing hard and everyone gave their best. We certainly deserve a better scoreline.